A video apparatus such as for example, televisions (TVs) that employ Liquid Crystal On Silicon (LCOS) or other projection technology have a viewer-replaceable lamp that creates the light of the projected picture. Certain of these televisions have a power button on their front that is illuminated with a light source, such as an LED, when the TV is powered on. When the lamp is dead, no on-screen display can be projected onto the screen to indicate the reason for the loss of picture. Conventional systems have attempted to indicate that the lamp is dead through visual indicators, typically by employing a blinking LED to indicate lamp status.
For example, Thomson Model 40RW34E LCD TV sold in Europe employs three LEDs on its front, which depending on whether each LED is on, off, or blinking, indicates information regarding the operating status of the TV, such as that the lamp does not work. For the “lamp does not work” indicator, all three LEDs blink.